A Republican House candidate accused in an attack mailer of owing $278,000 in back taxes has taken the unusual step of mailing a letter from his accountant to voters in the district.

Brian Watson of Greenwood Village is trying to unseat state Rep. Daniel Kagan, D-Cherry Hills Village, in a race considered crucial to determining which party is in the majority in the House after November.

“The whole thing about owing $278,000 is blatantly untrue,” Watson said. “I have nothing to be ashamed of. I have done nothing but try to create jobs in Colorado.”

But House Minority Leader Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, said Watson’s explanations are nothing more than “lots of excuses.”

“If you’re running for office and want to get paid by the taxpayers, you need to pay your taxes,” Ferrandino said.

Frank McNulty, the Republican speaker of the House, said the campaign mailer is a lie.

“Coloradans deserve better,” he said.

The mailer, from the “Colorado Government Alliance,” accuses Watson of being a “deadbeat,” which Watson vehemently disputed.

Copies of liens, letters and e-mails show the economic crisis deeply -affected Watson, a businessman whose endeavors include commercial real state investments and manufacturing.

“My personal financial picture has been severely damaged by the downturn in the economy, and my liquidity has been destroyed,” Watson wrote to an unhappy investor in a June 2010 e-mail.

The letter from Watson’s certified public accountant sent to voters explains how Watson was hit with an IRS tax lien.

Watson was the “manager partner” of two businesses in Aspen Valley, and was unaware that the manager and comptroller were not paying payroll taxes to the IRS as required, according to the letter. Watson, who received “no salary, compensation or other distributions from either company” was not authorized to sign on the bank account, the letter states.

The IRS in 2011 held Watson, as the partner, and the manager legally responsible for the unpaid payroll taxes and filed federal liens. Watson said his accountant was able to show the IRS that the lien was too high, and it was reduced to $108,000. Watson said he paid it off this year, although he has filed an appeal because he believes the manager should be liable.

“I worked like the dickens to pay that off, which was an extreme sacrifice to my family ” Watson said.

CPA Linda Doerksen said that in her 10 years of working for Watson “he has otherwise never been found to have failed to pay the IRS any sum due in personal or corporate taxes.”

The mailer also mentions by number three documents from the “Los Angeles County Recorder.” Watson said when he researched those documents he discovered they involved property he once owned but sold. He said the attorneys involved in the transaction have looked at the records and said the tax bill does not belong to his company, but to the buyer.

Conservation Colorado, a political nonprofit that advocates for environmental policies, spent more than $4.6 million -- a record for the group — to help Democrats take the levers of state government this month.

Denver police have increasingly focused curfew enforcement in Latino neighborhoods in recent years — with a special emphasis on Cinco de Mayo and other holidays — while other areas have seen much less enforcement.